"What seems like a very long time ago now I bought a pony to try to put my, then wayward, daughter*, back on the right tracks. It was never my intention to buy an untouched New Forest Pony straight off of the Forest and I found myself unsure of the way ahead. I trawled the internet and found a book, you’ve guessed, No Fear, No Force! I trained our ‘wild’ pony using the methods in the book and was delighted when I realised how close and how reasonably priced Sarah was. Who better to explain it all to Amy, ‘cause a teenager never believes her mum.' We booked a visit and I was hooked.
Shortly after I, with Sarah’s help, got a friends horse loading, I was even more hooked.
Sarah offered Amy some work experience, so when she didn’t take up the offer I did and have now been working with Sarah for about three and a half years. It never gets old. We go to an appointment and she looks at the horse with an understanding and empathy that goes deep inside, seemingly right to the horse's soul. It’s like she’s asking a troubled friend “What’s wrong?” She hears the answer and says “Let me in, I’ll help”. She has an insight into their feelings and I have watched many, many horses start to relax within the first five minutes of meeting Sarah, it’s like magic.
Sarah often says “When I want a horse to stand still, I just ask him to stand still” and that’s just it, what ever she wants the horse to do or, equally, not to do something. She just explains so that the horse understands, nothing dramatic and no big words (not that she doesn’t know any big words we often have a word of the day that I didn’t even know existed!)
There are rules for the horse, but not many, and everything is kept clear and consistent, everything is explained kindly with an understanding of anyone having to learn something new. Along with all the practical training comes an analogy for every situation, they are light hearted and make a tricky task easy to remember or the horse's behaviour easier to understand, I could listen to Sarah talk all day – oh, I do!
Sometimes getting the owner to understand why the horse is doing what ever it might be helps them to reignite their bond, as it no longer becomes blame but a respect for each other. Picking up that an owner has lost confidence or has a feeling of no hope, Sarah restores hope and builds the foundations of new confidence often in just one session, picking out simple and sometimes seemingly insignificant things they are doing well.
Every horse and owner we have seen has, without a doubt, benefited from a visit from Sarah. She goes out of her way to give the very best of herself, and do the very best for each and every horse. It's an honour to work with her and a bonus to have made the best friend a girl could want.
* I should just add that Tracey's 'wayward daughter' has turned into a superstar. Not only did she become one of the only college students that was taken for work experience at The Barn (they normally only take veterinary students) but then she became one of the youngest managers ever at Pets at Home. She then spotted a job as a Nurse Care Assistant in the NHS, sailed the interview, and is now loving her job at the hospital. She has already saved someone's life
